Largest Honeybee Loss Ever Recorded In The United Kingdom

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) attributes its worst losses of honeybees ever recorded to weather, but is that entirely true? Has the association confirmed entirely that weather is the cause? What about pesticides? The level of honeybee colony losses across England has more than doubled since last year, up to 33.8% from 16.2% in 2012. More than one third of all honeybee colonies in England died over the winter. In the south-west of England, more than half of all colonies were wiped out and in the northern part of England, 45.4 % disappeared. Scotland and Wales have also recorded a dramatic loss over the winter. What’s even worse is that the death toll for bees in England could be higher, since the BBKA survey of 846 members closed at the end of March before the arrival of spring.

The BBKA attributed the extreme death rates to the poor weather during 2012 continuing into 2013, and accelerated by the late arrival of spring, but the bee losses come just weeks after European Union member states voted for a suspension of three pesticides that were shown to be linked to mass bee deaths.

It was the worst summer ever. I had my own bees starving to death in the summer. It is nothing to do with pesticides; bad weather is enough of an explanation. It’s not healthy for bees to be trapped in their hives during the summer. Some queen bees couldn’t get out to mate and confined bees are more likely to get nosema and viruses from the varroa mite” – Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at University of Sussex

These figures are not surprising given the harsh winter and long cold spring which followed from an extremely poor summer last year. The National Bee Unit has continued to offer colony husbandry advice to beekeepers through these prolonged periods of inclement weather – Mike Brown, head of the NBU

How can we deny the fact that pesticides are playing a role here? How can we completely disregard the pesticides as a factor? It seems very odd to me given the tremendous amount of evidence that has surfaced over the past few years linking pesticides to bee deaths. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is done to create another “justification” for the production of GMO given that bees are directly linked to our food supply.

The UK government has always had links with the United States government, and it’s the U.S. government Environmental Protection Agency that approves of the GMO insecticide responsible for killing off bees. You can read more about that here. Not to long ago, the US government was sued for their use of pesticides killing millions of bees, and ignoring scientific evidence that proves it. You can read more about that here. A number of countries support the ban that Europe has put on the pesticides responsible for bee deaths, 15 in total but the UK and 7 other member states do not. The European Commission has banned the use of the pesticides linked to bee deaths across all member states, 27 in total.

The link between pesticides and bee deaths cannot be argued. It has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals that show how widely used pesticides have a very damaging effect on bees. A new paper published in the journal Nature shows how bees are twice as likely to die when exposed to pesticides; two-thirds of the bees are lost when exposed compared to a third when not exposed. The exposed bees are also half as successful in gathering food. The exotoxicology tests only looked at honey bees, and failed to include bumblebees. Bumblebees are just as important in providing the required pollination to create much of the food we consume. You can read more in the journal Naturehere.

There was also a study done by the NCBI which you can read here. This study also found that various groups of neonicotinoids are harming honey bees. They discovered that both clothianidin and and thiamethoxam persist in “extremely high levels” in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of crops treated with these insecticides. The research team also found neonicotinoid compounds in soil, including in fields where the chemicals were not even sprayed. They also found them in several plants and flowers visited by bees. Researchers determined that bees actively transfer contaminated pollen from primarily neonicotinoid treated corn crops, and bring it back to their hives. The bees also transfer these compounds to other plants and crops that are not treated with the chemicals, which shows just how persistent these chemicals truly are in the environment.

It’s amazing how much information is surfacing within the past few years. Information regarding all sectors of society is emerging as the world continues to wake up. Those with the eyes to see, ears to hear and the heart to feel are responding.

About the author

I joined the CE team in 2010 and have been doing this ever since. There are many things happening on the planet that don't resonate with me, and I wanted to do what I could to play a role in creating change. It's been great making changes in my own life and creating awareness and I look forward to more projects that move beyond awareness and into action and implementation. So stay tuned :)
arjun@collective-evolution.com

O lord who do we believe? THIS
First, there isn’t a worldwide ‘death of bees.’ It’s regional. Canada, Australia and many other countries have had no more winterkill than the long term average. Some regions like the USA have a bad case of varroa mite and nosema killing hives, but it isn’t worldwide.

You say: ” It was said that if all the bees died, humanity would last about 4 years. What can be done about this?”

Honeybees are native to asia and an invasive species elsewhere. Old-world crops that evolved with the honeybee do better with them than without. New world crops are either self pollinators or wind, wasp, fly, bat and hummingbird pollinated. Honeybees are not needed.

Honeybees will visit every flower, but that does not mean they get pollen from it. Pollen is protein, and bees need protein. Honey is from the nectar, which is necessary, but hives with lots of honey but no pollen stored for winter starve to death. Blueberries are a good example, where the pollen has to be ‘buzzed out.” Honeybees can’t do that. Bumblebees can. So honeybees starve if only blueberries are available.

OR THAT

Something is going on here. It seems the elite want to kill off all bees. Maybe Monsanto wants more excuses to threaten the food supply so they can continue manufacturing GMOs?
►www.collective-evolution.com/…/largest-honeybee-loss-ever-…/

Marishka: Who are the elite in your eyes and why would they want to kill off the bees? Are they the corporate titans that run Monsanto? The same people who’s crops depend on pollinators to make their patents profitable? Or some other mythical beast?

I read that the Europeans brought the honeybees to the Americas – Well, IF this is true, the Natives grew fruits and vegetables long before the Europeans got to these continents. The problem is that IF the pesticides kill bees, they also kill other species that also fertilize our crops.

That may look like a long list of food to you but considering crops, climates and the number of mouths to feed I think you are a little too comfortable. It was Einstein that said that quote about bees. If you consider the interconnected nature of species maybe you can start to imagine just how many more species we would lose,

Genetic literacy project is owned by pro GMO former reporter it gets picked up because of his connections not because of his use of science. It is a clearly biased site as well what you have to realize is that one site is biased due to it’s influx of cash from industry and the other due to a deep concern for an obviously failing world. To many are arguing for the continuation of ways that are killing us.

This is a world wide death of bees. It was said that if all the bees died, humanity would last about 4 years. What can be done about this? Is it the poisons that are being introduced into our eco-system? What can we do?

Le – First, there isn’t a worldwide ‘death of bees.’ It’s regional. Canada, Australia and many other countries have had no more winterkill than the long term average. Some regions like the USA have a bad case of varroa mite and nosema killing hives, but it isn’t worldwide.

You say: ” It was said that if all the bees died, humanity would last about 4 years. What can be done about this?”

Honeybees are native to asia and an invasive species elsewhere. Old-world crops that evolved with the honeybee do better with them than without. New world crops are either self pollinators or wind, wasp, fly, bat and hummingbird pollinated. Honeybees are not needed.

Honeybees will visit every flower, but that does not mean they get pollen from it. Pollen is protein, and bees need protein. Honey is from the nectar, which is necessary, but hives with lots of honey but no pollen stored for winter starve to death. Blueberries are a good example, where the pollen has to be ‘buzzed out.” Honeybees can’t do that. Bumblebees can. So honeybees starve if only blueberries are available.

Seriously dude, what makes you think that what happens in Silver Springs NV applies worldwide? How does that work? Are you familiar with logical fallacies? Here’s your sign: Find your fallacy here: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/poster

FYI I looked into the claim that it isn’t world wide so I’m not looking for you to provide evidence but to claim that it isn’t worldwide because it’s happening in Nevada when he already acknowledges it’s happening in the US makes no sense

Sadly, Amy, it appears they cld :-(. I have been documenting persisting trails over my girlfriend’s house – someone, somewhere is responsible 4 the spraying of vast quantities of something in the sky; given the track record of most governments, it cld b 2 late b4 we find out what it is &/or the effect it has :-(.

That is true. They are controlling the atmosphere with chemtrails that are poisoning the air, and as it reaches the earth, the water and plants. Everything the government is allowing these scientists to mess with is destroying the planet faster than ever. Plants species and animal species are going extinct. We may be able to control how much GMO is in our diet, but what are they spraying in our air? What are they dumping in our water? I fear we have only seen the tip of the iceberg on the amount of actual damage we have forced on us without our knowledge.

Toby that’s quite a powerful quote. When I have looked into other factors of the environment and how we are treating it I came to the conclusions that on our current path we don’t have many years left.. possibly 5 – 10. That’s not about global warming or anything, more so pollution and environment destruction.

Einstein was a brilliant physicist. He should have left biology to biologists. Many food crops do not require bees for pollination. Our variety of foods might be reduced, but that alone would not wipe out mankind. Interesting that neonics are used widely in Australia and Canada, but they have not seen such bee losses. GMO crops are not toxic to bees.

Ben and Anand,siding with the anhilliation of Nature on which we utterly depend. That neocotinoide pesticides kill bees has been proven, it only takes observation and testing to know it is so. And why should GMO crops not be toxic to bees? The millions of acres of Roundup-ready corn we eat today have genes spliced with those of a plant carrying toxins repelling insects, but which Monsanto has ramped up exceedingly in toxicity in failing attempts to conquer inevitable immunity by the pests involved.This mounting toxicity is doubtless kiling bees, and a recorded 50 cows belonging to Monsanto died from it. We too are guinea pigs, for these toxins are being sprayed by the thousands of tons across millions of acres of rapeseed, corn and soybean crops that make up our vegetable oils.

Our foods today are becoming increasingly unfit to eat because of ramped up pesticide use and toxicity, and the number of children today gasping on breathalizers and suffering ADDs and AHDs and other neurological problems are part of it and cancer’s rising toll. Monsanto has proven repeatedly that human health is of no concern to it, nor fairness to farmers whose fields are being contaminated by pollen drift from its fields. Monsanto is only about money and power and monstrous control over the foods we eat,.The seeds of the world made perfect over generations of intelligent selection for site specific regions, are being genetically corrupted and patented by Monsanto and two other petrochemical companies. Farmers of the world face the spectre of having to buy Monsanto- manipulated seeds needing ramped up pesticides to survive, and with natural excellence and purity destroyed.

Anand, your dissing of Einstein does nothing to bring down his intelligence and vision, but does reflect on the paucity of your own concerning pesticides. And Ben, would it be ok with you to forgo all the fruits and vegetables of the world depending on pollination? And what about the wonders of wildlife evolved to depend on foods that will vanish without bees? Have some compassion for life!

I think you need to consider not just Bee but other pollinators that are on the verge. Look at China, they are now having to pollinate by hand which isn’t effective. The science tells us that pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide, as well as many plant-derived medicines.

Anon.(the name matters not, opening your eyes on the other hand-priceless)

June 24, 2013 at 7:54 pm

No the death of the honey bee would not wipe out mankind, but in say 100 years after its disappearance what would happen to the ecosystem which relies so heavily on the pollination of the honey bee? Because honey bees do pollinate up to 70% of plants globally, so what does this mean for all of those plants, will they cease to exist? And if so does that foretell of a ecosystem collapse where the surviving species cannot support there life because the way i see it all life requires the plants for survival but if they aren’t here then how can they survive?

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